Teaching and learning strategies towards implementing the school curriculum in Tanzania’s community-based secondary schools: the case of Uyui District in Tabora Region

This study aimed at exploring teaching and learning strategies towards implementing the school curriculum in community secondary schools (CSSs) in Uyui District in Tabora region. It was conducted in 6 community secondary schools established between 2004-2009 during the first phase of Secondary Education Development Programme (SEDP I). A case study design as well as qualitative research approach was employed. A total of 164 respondents were involved in the study including heads of schools, subject teachers, ward executive officers, students and parents who were obtained through purposeful sampling, simple random sampling, stratified sampling and convenience sampling. Data were generated through interviews, focus group discussions and documentary reviews and were analyzed and presented qualitatively through content analysis while some data obtained through documentary reviews were presented in tabular form and percentages drawing up inferences related to the study. The findings of the study revealed that community members were dissatisfied with community schools outputs/outcomes. Low community involvement and contribution was attributed to lack of awareness and socio-economic status. The existence of acute shortage of teaching and learning resources including teachers, school physical infrastructures and instructional materials hindered effective implementation of the school curriculum. Teaching and learning strategies such as combining more than one stream into one classroom, assigning teachers more subjects to teach and the lecture method approach were not effective for students’ learning in CSSs. It was recommended that expansion of CSSs should much with availability of teachers, teaching and learning resources which are prerequisite conditions for improved school performance. Stake holders at the class root levels such as community members, parents, teachers and students need to be involved in planning and ultimately implementation of education projects in their areas. A special teacher curricula programme should be designed for pre-service and in-service teacher training to handle teaching environments in CSSs where there are acute shortages of teaching resources. Similar studies were recommended to be carried out in a wide area due to the abrupt increase of CSSs that did not match with inputs.